Capitol Building - Boise, Idaho
by BookwormCDA on 04/19/08 at 8:43 am
One of the major points of interest in Boise is of course the State Capitol building. This building is very majestic and is easily seen from most of the downtown area. The building, on Jefferson St. has been closed to visitors since April 2007 for some major renovations, but I was lucky enough to take a tour right before this time.
I had never been to a capitol building before, I guess of all the places I have lived it didn’t seem like a priority, but my sister-in-law quickly convinced me. My sister-in-law was clerking for one of the Idaho Supreme Court justices at the time, and was able to give me a short tour of the main building.
The exterior of the building is made up mainly of sandstone that was taken from a quarry not far from Boise and the interior is all marble. It really is quite a sight. When standing in the middle of the rotunda, if you look up, the very tip of the ceiling is painted blue with gold stars.
There are massive marble columns that I couldn’t even get my arms around all the way and the brochure states that there is “over 50,000 square feet of artistic marble.” You would think with all the marble the building would be pretty cold in the winter, but the original architects took care of this by using geothermal water for heat. Hot water is pumped up from underground to heat the whole building and is very energy efficient.
One of my favorite parts of the interior are these old brass mailboxes that are located on all three floors right above one another. You can drop something into the top box and it will travel through a tube all the way to the bottom box. It is very antique and I had really wished I had something to mail. I am sure that visitors with small children often leave small bits of paper and such for the mailman to find. One funny quirk you may not know about the capitol building is that there is a neon sign above the elevator on the ground floor. It seem so out of place and I can only assume that this was meant to modernize the building, or something equally amusing.
From outside the capitol building, you can walk up a huge amount of steps to stand at the front doors. The exterior is just as beautiful as the inside. At the 208 foot tall top, there is a copper and bronze eagle that is taller than I am. The grounds of the capitol are all very well maintained and in the spring there are tons of flowers blooming everywhere.
If you are in Boise on vacation, business, or even live here, the Capitol Building should be on your must see list. Although you cannot go inside the building until the construction is done, there is a virtual photo tour that you can find online at the Idaho State Capitol website along with information of the remodeling.
